Alright. Because this personally applies for me, what about creating missions of past decisions made without missions? (This sounds naive, but I could use some insight.)
For ex. I did my undergrad in IT Security. I did an MSDA. I ended up in professional sales. I don't know what to do with all this. I've been good at tackling hard subjects my entire life, but how do you craft a mission from a hodgepodge of difficult and unrelated skillsets?
Don't think of it as one overriding mission. That's very rare. But think of it as a small series of missions ofter overlapping concurrently.
You completed your mission of IT Security. But then you realized you love professional sales. Now you can aim to be the best in that.
For example, I'm a really good programmer for the past 30 years. But now I found i absolutely love online marketing -- so much more than writing Ruby, Erlang and Elixir it's not even close!
Now my mission is to do things related marketing. And I'm putting projects together that will keep me busy doing it. Loving it is not enough, so I force myself to practice it every day by marketing for real customers and products.
> how do you craft a mission from a hodgepodge of difficult and unrelated skillsets?
I'd say you don't have to fit the entirety of your skillset into a mission to be happy/successful, and that a mission with only part of your skillset doesn't imply you'll be at a competitive disadvantage.
All attained skills and knowledge do — or will eventually — contribute in one way or another to your path, even if they are currently irrelevant to your mission.
Personally, the best decision I have made was to start going to a psychologist weekly. It's essentially a debugger for the mind, provided you put in the work of dumping your mind data on them.
The venn diagram of your skills brings up Sales Engineering (also called technical consultant, solutions engineer, pre-sales engineer depending on the company) at an Internet/Security company as a potential career path. Have you heard of or considered that role?
That's a more focussed starting point which may lead you to find your mission.
No one can build your strategy for you-- you'll want one suited for you, and no one knows you better than yourself. Although I am sure certain folks can help: Life Coaches, Counselors, Psychologists, etc.
Find resources on:
- Skills that BOTH interest you, and are economically in demand
- Geographical areas where those skills have a competitive advantage and are in demand
[3] You can find entire libraries of skills at sites like Lynda.com and Udemy.com
I am an web app developer. No tech degree.
How? Built my skills. And strategically: I am creative, interested in business & entrepreneurship, interested in freedom, technology, and building things. And, I want to make good income so I can support a community where I help people grow.
Looking at those desires... it fits well with a Web App Developer career.
Likewise, you need to determine:
A. What do you want ("Goal". Not having a goal is like having a map without a destination: Going nowhere)
B. What you're willing to get what you want ("How badly do you _want_ to reach your goal? Do you really _want_ it? Again-- how badly? Are you willing to take 6 months off from work to grow your own skillset, full time, via project-based work, in order to leapfrog yourself into a new career?)
Just some ideas. It's not tough. Just ask a search engine the right questions. And know yourself.
Go through trials, tribulations, challenges-- One doesn't get to know their self by living an easy, meandering life. We get to know our self and what we're capable of by going through significant challenges-- By testing ourselves.
For ex. I did my undergrad in IT Security. I did an MSDA. I ended up in professional sales. I don't know what to do with all this. I've been good at tackling hard subjects my entire life, but how do you craft a mission from a hodgepodge of difficult and unrelated skillsets?